By Chris Muhizi for MCN Sunday July 2nd/2023.
At the new global financing summit in Paris, the presidents of the Republic of Congo and South Africa requested financial support for the Inga Dam electrification initiative from the in attendance international leaders.
According to premium Times, President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa expressed the same desire as his Congolese counterpart during the summit’s closing ceremony, saying, “Let us now put money on the table and collectively say we are going to address this mega project; a mega project which, in the end, will generate electricity for up to 12 to 15 African countries.”
The Grand Inga Dam project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the concept for seven hydroelectric power plants close to the Inga Falls. It is an improvement to the 351 MW and 1,424 MW Inga 1 and 2 facilities, which were finished in 1972 and 1982, respectively.
Touted as having the capacity to provide green electricity to the entire sub-Saharan area, the US$80 billion Grand Inga Dam project includes transmission lines to transmit electricity across Africa and Europe.
The Africa Development Bank (AfDB) estimates that over 640 million Africans lack access to electricity, giving the continent’s countries the lowest power access rate in the world at just over 40%.
The number of people without power nearly halved between 2010 and 2021, from 1.1 billion to 675 million, according to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Tracking SDG 7: The Energy Progress Report.
He made notice of the fact that he was supporting the remarks made earlier at the heads of state dinner by the president of the Congo, Denis Nguesso.
Africans will now be persuaded that these summits are truly significant, according to Mr. Ramaphosa, if something as practical as funding the electrification of the Inga Dam, which in his estimation could produce up to 70,000 megawatts, is done.
Now that they are willing to follow through on their promises, we will return home and say, “You know what, it was worthwhile going to these summits, coming to Europe, and listening to all the promises,” the man remarked.
The South African president said that the project might actually be funded by international development banks present at the meeting, and numerous power units could be developed from the dam.
The dam project, Mr. Ramaphosa said, would be one of the most significant results of the needed financial architecture reform, and he thinks it will contribute a lot of value.
Let’s complete that first, he said, and after that, we’ll be sure that you mean what you say when you make commitments.